Cabinet for conveying medicine

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a cabinet for conveying medicine which has a small space occupied by itself when not using it and which can hold the various sizes of medicine buckets irrespective of simple construction. A plurality of medicine bucket supporting members  3  for supporting in multistage medicine buckets  7  in which medicines are put are provided on a movable base member  2  with casters  4.  The medicine bucket supporting members  3  are juxtaposed on the base member  2  with a predetermined distance therebetween. The opposite faces of the medicine bucket supporting members  3  are provided with support portions  8  for supporting both side edges of the medicine bucket  7.  The medicine bucket supporting members  3  are positioned so that, when the plurality of cabinets  1  are juxtaposed with all of the medicine buckets  7  removed, the medicine bucket supporting members  3  do not interfere with the base member  2  of the adjacent cabinet  1.  Whereby, the medicine bucket supporting members  3  of each cabinet  1  can be disposed to abut against each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a cabinet for conveying medicine which is used when conveying medicine.

[0002] Conventionally, when conveying medicine, for example, from a dispensary to each sickroom in a hospital ward, it is a known arrangement that the medicine is put in a bucket which is then stored in a cabinet provided with casters and that the cabinet with the medicine buckets stored in multistage is conveyed.

[0003] However, as the cabinet described above has a large space occupied by itself, a storage space for the cabinets must be held in the case that no medicine is conveyed. The more the number of the cabinets, the lager needs the storage space for the cabinets.

[0004] If all of the medicine buckets have uniformly the same size, there is a disadvantage that when the number of the medicines to be prescribed to a patient is large, all of the medicines can not be put in the medicine bucket, reversely when the number of medicines is small, the redundant space within the medicine bucket increases. Thus, usually, various sizes of medicine buckets have been prepared, which makes the construction of the cabinet for holding such medicine buckets complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide a cabinet for conveying medicine which has a small space occupied by itself when not using it and which can hold the various sizes of medicine buckets irrespective of simple construction.

[0006] The present invention, as a means for solving the aforementioned object, provides a cabinet for conveying medicine in which a plurality of medicine bucket supporting members for supporting in multistage medicine buckets in which medicines are put are provided on a movable base member with casters, wherein:

[0007] the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are juxtaposed on the base member with a predetermined distance therebetween;

[0008] the opposite faces of the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are provided with support portions for supporting both side edges of the medicine bucket;

[0009] the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are positioned so that, when the plurality of cabinets are juxtaposed with all of the medicine buckets removed, the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members do not interfere with the base member of the adjacent cabinet; and

[0010] whereby the medicine bucket supporting members of each cabinet can be disposed to abut against each other.

[0011] According to the construction above, with all of the medicine buckets removed, the plurality of cabinets can be aligned with each other so that the medicine bucket supporting members of each cabinet can be disposed to abut against each other. Thus, even if the number of the cabinets increase, the space owned by themselves never increase.

[0012] Preferably, the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members may be arranged so that the distance therebetween can be adjusted. Thus, even the medicine bucket having a different width can be supported.

[0013] Preferably, the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members may be pivotably provided with respect to the base member. Thus, when the plurality of cabinets are aligned with each other so that the medicine bucket supporting members of each cabinet can be disposed to abut against each other, the medicine bucket supporting members can be pivoted, whereby the space occupied by the cabinets can be further diminished.

[0014] Preferably, an engagement mechanism for disabling to remove the medicine buckets supported on the support portions of the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members may be provided and the engagement mechanism may be arranged to be intensively operated from one particular position, which allows easy manipulation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Other objects and features of the present invention will become clear from the following detail description with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a front view of a cabinet for conveying medicine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 2 is a plane view of FIG. 1;

[0018]FIG. 3 is a partly perspective view of FIG. 1;

[0019]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a medicine container stored in the medicine bucket of FIG. 1;

[0020]FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an another example of medicine container;

[0021]FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a still another example of medicine container in a stacked state;

[0022]FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a still another example of medicine container in a stacked state;

[0023] FIGS. 8(a), 8(b) are partly perspective views showing an example of the medicine container attached in the medicine bucket;

[0024]FIG. 9 is a plane view showing a storage state of the cabinets for conveying medicine of FIG. 1;

[0025]FIG. 10 is a plane view showing a storage state of an another example of cabinets for conveying medicine;

[0026]FIG. 11 is a plane view showing a storage state of a still another example of cabinets for conveying medicine;

[0027]FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing an example for locking the medicine bucket in the cabinet for conveying medicine; and

[0028]FIG. 13 is a partly perspective view showing an another example of medicine bucket supporting members slidably provided.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0029]FIG. 1 shows a front view of a cabinet for conveying medicine according to the embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 2 is a plane view thereof. The cabinet 1 is made of stainless steel, steel, and aluminum alloy and so on and comprises a base frame 2 and a plurality of medicine bucket supporting members 3 juxtaposed on the base frame 2.

[0030] The base frame 2 comprises a base beam 2 a and cross beams 2 b, 2 c connected to the lower surfaces of the both ends of the base beam 2 a to have a substantially “H” shape and is provided with casters 4 at both ends of the cross beams 2 b, 2 c so that the base frame 2 is movable on the floor.

[0031] Each of the medicine bucket supporting members 3 is formed like a lattice plate having a rectangular shape. On each ledge 5 (FIG. 3) of the member 3 is formed a support edge 6 which protrudes laterally. Both the support edges 6 positioned at opposite portions of adjacent medicine bucket supporting members 3 constitute a support portion 8 for supporting a medicine bucket 7.

[0032] Each of the medicine bucket supporting member 3 a positioned at both end portions and two middle portions of the base frame 2 is formed with protrusions 9 a, 9 b at the middle portions of the upper and lower ledges 5 a. The upper protrusions 9 a are connected with each other by means of an auxiliary beam 10 and the lower protrusions 9 b are fixed to the base beam 2 a of the base frame 2 so that the medicine bucket supporting members 3 a are juxtaposed with a predetermined distance. The protrusions 9 a, 9 b allow the medicine bucket supporting members 3 a to be disposed apart from the base frame 2 and the auxiliary beam 10. The distance between the medicine bucket supporting members 3 a can be designed to an appropriate dimension in accordance with the size of the medicine bucket 7 to be used.

[0033] Each of the medicine bucket supporting member 3 b positioned at another two middle portions of the base frame 2 is slidably mounted on slide shafts 11 which are fixed on the base beam 2 a of the base frame 2 and the auxiliary beam 10 via slide bearings 12 (in FIG. 3 only upper side is illustrated). For positioning of the medicine bucket supporting members 3 b, for example, Quick Set Collar® (trade name) and Ball Catch® not shown may be used.

[0034] On one end of the auxiliary beam 10, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, is provided with a lock handle 13 which can be rotatably operated. To the lock handle 13 is connected a drive shaft 14 which is connected to a driven shaft 15 via gears. The drive shaft 14, the driven shaft 15 and gears are disposed in the auxiliary beam 10. The driven shaft 15 is connected to vertical rods 16 via lack and pinion mechanisms. Each of the vertical rods 16 is provided in the medicine bucket supporting members 3 a except one positioned beneath the lock handle 13 and forced to move upward by a spring 16 a. In the case that the vertical rod 16 is provided in the slidable medicine bucket supporting members 3 b, it is necessary to constitute the lack and pinion mechanism to move together with the slide motion of the member 3 b. The vertical rod 16 is formed with arms 16 correspondingly to the support edges 6. On both ends of each of the arms 16 are formed engagement protrusions 18 which engage with and disengage from step portions 7 c formed on flange portions 7 a of the medicine bucket 7 which will be described hereinafter. Thus, only by intensively operating the lock handle 13 provided on one particular position, it is possible to allow the plurality of medicine buckets 7 supported on the cabinet 1 to be in a lock state or an unlock state. It is also possible to adopt a locking mechanism to the lock handle 13 so that, after the medicine bucket 7 is set, the medicine put in the medicine bucket 7 can not be taken out unless the locking mechanism is unlocked. This surely prevents the third party from stealing a glance at the medicine under the conveyance or from freely bringing out the medicine. The uppermost medicine bucket 7 is necessary to provide a lid or so and lock it.

[0035] The medicine bucket 7 have a box-like shape upwardly opened and is made of synthetic resin such as vinyl chloride, polycarbonate, ABS resin and so on. In the present embodiment, four kinds of medicine buckets 7 each having different dimensions of width and height are used so that a transfusion bag 19 (FIG. 3) and a medicine container 20 can be stored therein. The wide type of medicine bucket 7 can store three transfusion bags 19 juxtaposed horizontally with a space for taking out remained, while the narrow type of medicine bucket 7 can store one transfusion bag 19. The high type of medicine bucket 7 can store two transfusion bags 19 stacked vertically, while the low type of medicine bucket 7 can store one transfusion bag 19. By providing a vertical side (longitudinal direction) flange portion 7 a in the lower level than a horizontal side (lateral direction) flange portion 7 b as shown in FIG. 8(a), the upper opening edge of the medicine bucket 7 is formed with a step portion 7 c which the engagement protrusions 18 interlocked with the lock handle 13 engage with or disengage from. On the side walls of the medicine bucket 7 are formed a plurality of rectangular apertures 21. The apertures 21 are utilized to fit a partition plate (not shown) inside the medicine bucket 7 or to fix a medicine container 20 described hereinafter. The medicine container 20 have a box-like shape upwardly opened and is made of same synthetic resin as the medicine bucket 7. The medicine container 20 can contain medicine such as ampoules for one dose administered to a patient. Therefore, in the case of administrating two doses, i.e., morning and evening to a patient, two medicine containers 20 are necessary. The medicine container 20 is fixed in the medicine bucket 7 by means of an engagement member 22. The engagement member 22 have a substantially “U” shape and is made of synthetic resin. The engagement member 22 comprises an engagement arm portion 22 a for engaging with the rectangular aperture 21 of the medicine bucket 7 and a grip portion 22 b for gripping the upper opening edge of the medicine container 20, whereby positioning the medicine container 20.

[0036] The engagement member 22, as shown in FIG. 5, may be an engagement portion 23 integrally formed on the side surface of the medicine bucket 7.

[0037] On the side surface of the medicine bucket 7 may be formed projection portions 24 as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. In FIG. 6, each of the projection portions 24 is comprised of a trickle shape of projection 25. When the medicine containers 20 are stacked, the projections 25 of the upper medicine container 20 come into contact with the upper opening edge of the lower medicine container 20, preventing the medicine containers 20 from becoming difficult to be detached from each other due to the fact that the inner and outer surfaces thereof come into close contact with each other. The shape of the projection 25 is not limited to the trickle shape but may be any shapes such as ellipse that can prevent the close contact of the stacked medicine containers 20. In FIG. 7, each of the projection portions 24 is comprised of a pair of engagement projections 26 spaced from each other. The engagement projections 26 play not only a part of easily detaching the stacked medicine containers 20 but also a part of engaging with the side edges of the rectangular apertures 21 to position the medicine container 20 in place.

[0038] Use of the cabinet 1 for conveying medicine having a construction above will be described hereinafter.

[0039] When the medicine is desired to convey, the medicine is put in the medicine bucket 7 which is then supported on the support portion 8. In the case of the transfusion bag 19, it is directly put in the medicine bucket 7. In the case of another types of medicines, for example, ampoules, packaged medicines and so on, each one dose of the medicines per patient are once put in the medicine containers 20 which are then stored in the medicine bucket 7. The medicine containers 20 are positioned using the engagement member 22. The medicine container 20, as shown in FIG. 8(a), can be securely positioned by using any of the plurality of rectangular apertures 21 formed on the side walls of the medicine bucket 7. After positioned by the engagement member 22, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the medicine container 20 can be slid with respect to the engagement member 22 so that the medicine container 20 is positioned, for example, at the corner of the medicine bucket 7. This arrangement prevents a disadvantage that the medicines which have been grouped every patients or every kinds of medicines exist in a mixture during the movement of the cabinet 1. The slidable medicine bucket supporting members 3 b may be slid based on the size of the medicine bucket 7 to be used to set an appropriate distance. This allows the medicine bucket 7 to be properly supported irrespective of the size thereof.

[0040] Once setting of the medicine buckets 7 is completed, the lock handle 13 is turned so that the engagement portions 23 engages with the step portions 7 c of the medicine bucket 7, whereby the medicine buckets 7 are in a lock state. This eliminates a disadvantage that the medicine bucket 7 have drop from the cabinet 1 or the medicines have fell off the medicine bucket 7 when moving the cabinet 1 to for example a hospital ward.

[0041] In not use, in order to store the plurality of cabinets 1, after all of the medicine buckets 7 are removed, the cabinets 1 are disposed so that they abut against each other as shown in FIG. 9. Since the medicine bucket supporting members 3 are positioned between the base beam 2 a of the base frame 2 and the auxiliary beam 10 via the protrusions 9 a, 9 b, they do not interfere with each other. Therefore, even if the plurality of cabinets 1 are stored, the space occupied by them can be diminished.

[0042] The medicine bucket supporting members 3 may be pivotably provided with respect to the base beam 2 a the base frame 2 and the auxiliary beam 10 so that all of the members 3 as shown in FIG. 10 can be pivoted in the same direction, or two members 3 at the middle can be pivoted so as to be broadened toward the front side and two members 3 at the both ends can be pivoted so as so be parallel to the adjacent middle members 3. Thus, the space occupied by the cabinets 1 can be further diminished.

[0043] The positioning of the medicine bucket 7 to the cabinet 1 may be achieved by adopting an arrangement as shown in FIG. 12. Namely, from the vertical rod 16 is extended an arm 32 on the end of which is formed an engagement projection 33. The engagement projection 33 engage with the engagement hole 34 formed on the flange portion 7 a of the medicine bucket 7.

[0044] All of the medicine bucket supporting members 3 may be fixed on the base frame 2 and the auxiliary beam 10. The slide mechanism may be arranged as shown in FIG. 13. Namely, the upper and lower protrusions 9 a, 9 b of the medicine bucket supporting member 3 b may be inserted through guide grooves 36 formed on the base frame 2 and the auxiliary beam 10 and provided with plural pairs of rollers 3 so that the medicine bucket supporting member 3 can be slid along the guide grooves 36.

[0045] Although the present invention has been fully described by way of the examples with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, unless such changes and modifications otherwise depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being included therein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A cabinet for conveying medicine in which a plurality of medicine bucket supporting members for supporting in multistage medicine buckets in which medicines are put are provided on a movable base member with casters, wherein: the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are juxtaposed on the base member with a predetermined distance therebetween; the opposite faces of the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are provided with support portions for supporting both side edges of the medicine bucket; the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are positioned so that, when the plurality of cabinets are juxtaposed with all of the medicine buckets removed, the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members do not interfere with the base member of the adjacent cabinet; and whereby the medicine bucket supporting members of each cabinet can be disposed to abut against each other.
 2. The cabinet as in claim 1, wherein the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are arranged so that the distance therebetween can be adjusted.
 3. The cabinet as in claim 1, wherein the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are pivotably provided with respect to the base member.
 4. The cabinet as in claim 1, wherein an engagement mechanism for disabling to remove the medicine buckets supported on the support portions of the plurality of medicine bucket supporting members are provided and wherein the engagement mechanism is arranged to be intensively operated from one particular position. 